The many faces of endings

Nabil Rahman's solo exhibit at Latitude Longitude 6

“It hung over us like an anvil” toys with the idea of finality – gingerly holding its twisted knots with needles and paper sometimes, and sometimes caging the raging momentums of explosions and accidents in glass frames.

Nabil Rahman's solo exhibition, “it hung over us like an anvil”, is currently on at Latitude Longitude 6 in the capital's Banani. The exhibition remains open till August 22 from 12-8pm.

Nabil Rahman describes himself as a Bangladeshi born, Bronx raised, Dhaka-based poet, aiming to express and communicate through various media. “it hung over us like an anvil” is his first show, where he visually and physically explores the fluidities and dynamics of 'endings'. Hugely inspired by the Bangla word 'shomapto', (meaning 'end'), almost traditionally found in the end of Bangladeshi movies, Rahman tries to communicate with the audience with his work and better understand if endings really are as simple and final as they seem in these movies.

“We see two lovers and one of them commits suicides for love, let's say. And then we see the film closing on that point. But that's not the end. What happens afterward?” he says.

“Endings are constantly hanging over us. Of course, there is the lonely journey towards death, but other less obvious ones that we don't think of as endings – like this conversation, or this night, this show.”

Rahman's work is urgent and immediate, built on items and resources scoured from his surroundings and finished at the first attempt. He refuses to over-think his work and concentrates more on expressing the feelings and thoughts that first evoked him. He experiments with the speed and timing of endings: his centerpiece slows down the ending of a film, while his installations take broken windshields and capture the final blow leading to an end.

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